feline fanatic

I have to admit I do mutter "close enough" quite a bit when I am pressing blocks. If an intersection is off 1/16" of an inch I usually let it go. Sometimes a point doesn't meet exactly and I will also mutter "close enough" at a chopped point. Sometimes it is noticed and sometimes it isn't. I can not stand to see a misplaced block or unit within a block, be it reversed, in the wrong order, upside down or whatever. That I will definitely take apart and fix because it would drive me crazy. I do a lot of stand and stare when assembling so hopefully I catch it.

When I was quilting my Agave garden, I used a black batting because all the background on the quilt was black. But my center star was yellow and I got horrible shadowing from the black batting. I could see every seam allowance shadowing through. But I was already to deep into quilting it and couldn't bear the thought of ripping all that quilting to do something to hide the shadows. So I let it go, hoping the visual impact of the rest of the quilt would somehow minimize what to me was a glaring, in your face problem. I do know the judges commented on that shadowing but only because a friend of mine was volunteering in the judging room and happened to be there when my quilt was judged. Had she not been, I never would have known because they did not comment on it on my score sheet. I still scored fairly high marks on the quilt overall and was pleased with the final outcome even though it didn't ribbon. But I chalked the error up to experience and next time I will take steps to avoid that issue.
There is nothing wrong with mistakes as long as we learn from them and try to fix them when we can or can live with them and they aren't causing anyone any harm. We all know what our internal threshold level is for that.

JENNR8R

I think I found my soul sister! I love everything you wrote, but the above quoted really resonates with me!

rryder

Since I prefer improvisational piecing, I don't generally think of errors as something to be fixed, instead I think of them as an opportunity to go exploring in another direction. Piecing then becomes an exercise in discovery for me and is a lot more fun. I approach FMQ in the same way.

However, I do periodically put together a more traditional quilt that requires careful piecing and depending on what it is for, and what kind of error it is, I will fix it--this can entail taking a block apart and re-doing it, getting creative with my sigma-micron pens, or disguising the problem area when I FMQ it. Some "mistakes" just don't bother me and I'll leave them be. Finding that balance is what makes piecing and quilting enjoyable for me. If I second guessed and worried about every mistake I'd never get a quilt done and that would bother me a lot more than worrying about a less than perfect piecing or FMQing job. That said, I have no problem Un-sewing either at the piecing stage or the FMQ stage if I really don't like what is happening and can't think of any other way to salvage a project--but that's rare.

Rob


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DOTTYMO

I rarely undo. I put the quilt on one side if I see a mistake and decide what to do. I have been known to make the same mistake a few times as they become design feature.

Notwendy

I'm trying to become a "finished is better than perfect" person ala gramjo. Perfection is entirely over-rated and not really doable. To quote Salvador Dali - "Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it."

Though putting that in practice is difficult. : (

francie yuhas

When I worked,I was intent on perfection.(I was a physician). Now I'm retired,I consider it a spiritual exercise to let things go a bit...better for my stress level. Some days,I'm quite spiritual.

Friday1961

Yes! My QP is me, too. Nobody else sees, nobody else cares....probably. But I care. And sometimes I wish I weren't so particular, other times I think I could be more so.

crafty pat

I always try to do the best job I can however mistakes creep in usually at the worst time. I have to fix it or it bothers me so much I don't enjoy finishing the quilt. I fix it if I can but if it is a big job the quilt ends up in the ufo pile.

klswift

I think the deciding point is what is an error? If it is 'glaring', I don't think any of us would let it go. But many, many errors are very small and if not pointed out, no one would notice. These are the kinds of errors that we can drive ourselves crazy over. But, it is up to each one of us, what we can call a unique design element or a fixable error!

Rennie

That is my thought, just like Gramajo. Finished IS better than perfect (which I know enough to know I will never be!)